Personal Supercomputer Is Coming… Again

Jack Gold of Computerworld says, “Within the next three to four years, most PC users will see their machines morph into personal supercomputers.”  I’m glad to hear this, of course; no one loves a new, faster gadget more than me.  But it doesn’t strike me as a startling revelation.  Indeed, this has already happened, hasn’t it?  Everything is relatively, after all, including what we call a supercomputer. 

Anyone remember the Cray X-MP?  It was the world’s fastest computer between 1982 and 1985.  Here’s a chart comparing the processing power of the earliest and fastest models of the X-MP with the Core 2 Quad processor in the desktop PC I’m using to write this blog post.  (The chart is based on figures I pulled from Wikipedia and CPU World.)  I think you’ll agree my PC compares favorably.

 

It’s my assumption that until we run into some insurmountable physical barrier or the robots take over, the supercomputers in any given period will rival the computing power of kitchen appliances and baby toys in some later period.  It’s just the timing that’s in question.